The risk of a patient falling from a bed, chair, or other supporting structure is an important concern for those responsible for providing patient care. While patient falls are not always serious, the possibility of additional injuries to the patient, and the potential liabilities for caregivers makes avoiding patient falls an important concern.
Patients who fall may experience considerable pain and discomfort and may require additional time to heal old injuries that have been aggravated by the fall, or new injuries caused by the event itself. For healthcare providers, patient falls generally mean additional costs, some or all of which the facility may be forced to write-off. For insurance companies, the additional risk of injury from patient falls increases costs making it generally more expensive to provide health coverage to patients and liability insurance for hospitals and caregivers.
Also, the need to prevent patient falls is generally increasing as the population ages. Age increases both the overall risk of falling and the likelihood of injury from a fall. Elderly people may be especially at risk of repeat falls which may increase the time required to heal, and result in serious or life-threatening age-related complications.
Healthcare regulations may also impact the cost of patient falls. Some government agencies may withhold funds, refuse licenses or permits, or otherwise penalize providers with higher numbers of patient falls. On the other hand, increased funding may be available to providers who reduce or eliminate incidents involving fall-related injuries.
Thus patients, caregivers, and medical institutions would benefit from predicting when a patient is about to fall and preventing it from happening rather than treating patients from the injuries they may sustain as a result.